P3: (5.8, 130') Climb far right weakness. Make a couple strenuous moves to get established on the upper face and follow weaknesses to the summit.

Renn Fenton contemplated this stunning line for years before he went for it. He knew he would be alright if he could just get to the face climbing, but was unsure if he could climb the cracks that guard it. On the FA, no bolts were placed on the second pitch, making it yet another impressive lead in Needles history! Bravo, Renn and Don!

Location

Start at the downhill end of the gully between Outer Outlet and Rhinoceros Rock. The gully has a chock stone the size of a house suspended between the two formations. Start on top of the largest boulder at the base of a vertical crack system on the W edge.

Refer to the map on the Outer Outlet page for route location.

One double rope rappel off the SE side will get you down.

Protection

Nuts and a single set of cams from micro to 3" with doubles from BD .75 to 2. Long slings reduce rope drag on p1 and 3.

What about the two bolts on pitch 3? Were they added? I recently did the whole route with a friend without clipping any of the bolts but did use the bolted anchor. I thought 5.8 was a very fair grade for pitch 2 as did my partner. It is possible that the line of retro bolts on pitch 2 didn't follow the original route. Things to me looked a bit larger farther left. But since I was unsure of the route's path I followed the bolts without clipping them.

Tater Tot, there were no bolts on pitch 3 either. I don't remember anything that shouldn't have been reasonable without bolts for a 5.8 climber.

As for pitch 2, my guess is that it went further left as you suggested, since without bolts one would obviously choose the most reasonable line. I do remember diagonalling left from the P1 belay and wandering a bit, but can't at this point, more than 45 years later, remember the exact line we took. It was definitely low fifth-class and totally appropriate to leave unbolted for 5.8 climbers.

It sounds as if the bolted way deserves to be called a variation, and if it is 5.8 (and if Needle's standards were respected by drilling on the lead), it would make for a more uniformly difficult route that would become even more of a classic than the original.

can someone please get some pictures put up of this route; it is too good a route to not have pictures up on here. people coming from out of state may want a harder way up than the conn diagonal but easier than the 10's and 11's and this route would fit the bill. it is classic imo and has a ton of variety and should not be missed if you're breaking into the 5.9/5.10 grade on trad. (i say that b/c although this is 5.8 the first pitch is certainly 5.8++ and is not gimme, it is sustained and i had an easier time on three rings for elven kings at 5.9)